Tour News
After six years, Curtis is back in the winner’s circle
By James Dalthorp
GolfWRX Contributor
When Ben Curtis won his first major championship as a rookie at the 2003 British Open Championship, there were many who tagged him as a “fluke” or “longshot.” After all, he was ranked 396th in the world entering the event with just his strong amateur resume to validate his win. But nine years later, he’s reached rare company with his third PGA TOUR win under his belt, secured today at the Valero Texas Open at the TPC San Antonio. Curtis shot an even-par 72 to finish at 9-under, a two shot win that was heartfelt for the 34-year-old.
“All the emotions … you don’t even know you have ‘em until you go through something like that,” Curtis said.
Curtis has been through major life experiences during his PGA Tour career. Not long after his major win in his rookie season, he tied the knot with his wife Candace at the United Methodist Church just miles from the site of where he played that week’s tournament at Firestone Country Club. He now has two young children.
Curtis had been playing the European Tour regularly because he did not have full status on Tour. In the past six years since his last win, he had only 24 made cuts in over 200 starts. Through the trying times, he continued to listen to the advice of his college coach from Kent State University. The Ohio State amateur champion mentioned his advice regularly in the media center after his win.
“He said, ‘Just keep working hard and good things will happen.’”
Curtis held off young standouts Matt Every and John Huh by a two shot margin. Every was the first round leader after a course-record 63. Curtis managed two steady opening rounds of 67, followed by 73-72 on the weekend. His two double bogeys on the front nine in Round 3 set him back, but Curtis overcame the setback to finish two-under his last ten holes in difficult conditions. The final round of 72 was two shots below the field average of nearly 74 at TPC San Antonio.
The tough conditions could be attributed to not only a difficult course, designed by Greg Norman, but challenging conditions. The nearly 7500-yard layout saw its share of challenging weather over four days. Day 1, a steady wind from the South made scoring conditions inconsistent. In Round 2, wind came at the same moment, but from a more northern direction. The switch meant that players who teed off late Thursday and early Friday saw a different course – the wind did not start to blow until about noon on Friday which gave the players ideal scoring conditions. At about 1:45 p.m. CST Friday, a rainstorm hit San Antonio that caused players to continue their rounds Saturday morning.
The North wind continued to blow Saturday – and finally Sunday the breeze settled down. However, the pin positions were tough to putt.
“It was hard to get yourself after a while to make good strokes and trust yourself,” Curtis said of the holes today, which were cut in places that were difficult to read.
John Huh and Matt Every fought hard to challenge Curtis, but could not get their putts to drop late. Huh was 9-over after eight holes in the first round, but battled back into contention after only one bogey and 16 birdies in his final 64 holes. He would come up just two shots out of a playoff.
Curtis earned his victory with two clutch putts at the end of the round. Faced with a challenging lie on the No. 17 , he bladed a wedge shot from the fairway over the green. From there, he had to make a lengthy putt of some 25 feet to save par and maintain a one shot lead. He drained it.
“It was the best putt I hit all week,” Curtis said.
He finished his round by making a 15-footer for birdie on the 18th green for a two-shot win.
“I love hard golf courses,” Curtis said. “I love when par is premium. I love courses where you have to control your distance – not only in the air but also on the ground.”
Curtis will head to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans next week thanks to the win. This is his ninth year on the PGA Tour and he will look to defend the Valero Texas Open next year on a new date – the week before the Masters. Next week in New Orleans, he will join Huh and Every in the field that includes Masters and defending champion Bubba Watson, as well as Keegan Bradley, Ernie Els, Justin Rose, and Luke Donald.
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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Derek
Apr 23, 2012 at 10:01 pm
24 cuts made in 200 starts?? Might wanna check you facts..